Sr. Staff Engineer, AI and Data Platform

About Quizlet:

At Quizlet, our mission is to help every learner achieve their outcomes in the most effective and delightful way. We’re a $1B+ learning platform used by two-thirds of U.S. high school students and half of college students, powering over 1 billion learning interactions each week.

We blend cognitive science with machine learning to personalize and enhance the learning experience for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.

Let’s Build the Future of Learning

Join us to design and deliver AI-powered learning tools that scale across the world and unlock human potential.

About the Team:

The AI & Data Platform team's mission is to build and maintain a rock-solid, scalable, and efficient foundation for all data and machine learning operations at Quizlet. This team is the bedrock upon which our AI ambitions are built. As we consolidate our AI efforts to create a unified and powerful product portfolio, the platform team's primary focus is on achieving operational excellence. We aggressively buy and leverage best-in-class MLOps and DataOps technologies to accelerate the pace of innovation across Quizlet.

About the Role:

As a Sr. Staff Engineer for the AI & Data Platform, you will serve as the technical authority and visionary for Quizlet's machine learning and data infrastructure. You'll tackle our most complex technical challenges, architecting the foundational platform that enables the entire company to build and deploy intelligent features with speed and confidence.

Your leadership will be pivotal in transforming our infrastructure to support the next generation of AI at Quizlet, from personalization and recommendations to generative and agentic systems. You will be the technical lead for a talented team of engineers, guiding the architecture and execution of the systems that manage the entire lifecycle of data and models at Quizlet. Your work will directly empower our product teams to turn Quizlet into a personalized, AI-powered coach that drives user engagement, retention, and monetization.

We're happy to share that this is an onsite position in our San Francisco office. To help foster team collaboration, we require that employees be in the office a minimum of three days per week : Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and as needed by your manager or the company. We believe that this working environment facilitates increased work efficiency, team partnership, and supports growth as an employee and organization.

In this role, you will:

• Architect, design, and execute the technical roadmap for Quizlet’s AI and data platform, directly enabling key business metrics like Engaged Learners and Revenue Growth
• Set the technical direction and provide mentorship to a high-performing team of software engineers, fostering a culture of operational rigor, innovation, and high-impact execution
• Spearhead the technical strategy for our MLOps and DataOps foundation, making critical build vs. buy decisions to improve developer velocity and system reliability
• Own the end-to-end technical lifecycle of the platform that powers all machine learning at Quizlet. Which includes: Data Platform: Managing offline ETL and analytics platforms, online and streaming data ingestion, and the business intelligence and experimentation tools that democratize data access
• Model Platform: Overseeing the infrastructure for model training, feature management, inference, ranking, retrieval, and ML operations for both recommendation and generative AI models
• Drive technical excellence in building scalable, reliable, and cutting-edge infrastructure, targeting uptime of >99.95% for critical pipelines and improving the measurable quality and freshness of our data assets
• Partner closely with leaders in Product, Applied AI, and Data Science to deliver on a shared vision of an AI-driven learning experience
• Influence the technical direction of the broader engineering organization by establishing best practices for building, deploying, and maintaining software and ML systems at scale

What you bring to the table:

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science or a related quantitative field
• 8+ years of industry experience in software engineering with a track record of architecting and launching large-scale, business-critical infrastructure, such as data platforms, MLOps systems, or distributed services
• Proven experience setting the technical direction for a team and driving consensus on complex, ambiguous engineering challenges
• Deep technical expertise in modern data and ML infrastructure, including data processing frameworks (e.g., Spark, Flink), MLOps tooling (e.g., Kubeflow, MLflow, Tecton), container orchestration (Kubernetes), and cloud services (GCP/AWS)
• Demonstrated success in mentoring and developing senior engineering talent
• A strong strategic and product-oriented mindset, with the ability to translate high-level business needs into a clear, actionable technical architecture

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience building platforms to support Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), or agentic systems (e.g., managing prompt libraries, evaluation harnesses, and vector databases)
• A track record of significant contributions to open-source projects in the MLOps, data, or infrastructure space
• Experience in the EdTech or consumer mobile space
• Experience building and maintaining a modern MLOps stack for feature management, model training, and inference

Compensation, Benefits & Perks:

• Quizlet is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Salary transparency helps to mitigate unfair hiring practices when it comes to discrimination and pay gaps. Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a starting base salary of $230,000 - $280,000, depending on location and experience, as well as company stock options
• Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
• 20 vacation days that we expect you to take!
• Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, Dental, VSP Choice)
• Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
• Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
• Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
• 40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice

Why Join Quizlet?

🌎 Massive reach: 60M+ users, 1B+ interactions per week

🧠 Cutting-edge tech: Generative AI, adaptive learning, cognitive science

📈 Strong momentum: Top-tier investors, sustainable business, real traction

🎯 Mission-first: Work that makes a difference in people’s lives

🤝 Inclusive culture: Committed to equity, diversity, and belonging

We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome!

We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership.

We provide a transparent setting that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!

In Closing:

At Quizlet, we’re excited about passionate people joining our team—even if you don’t check every box on the requirements list. We value unique perspectives and believe everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Our culture is all about taking initiative, learning through challenges, and striving for high-quality work while staying curious and open to new ideas. We believe in honest, respectful communication, thoughtful collaboration, and creating a supportive space where everyone can grow and succeed together.”

Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Come join us!

To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies:

At this time, Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles.

Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.